Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Calling all Confessionals!

It was recently overheard that the “Confessional Lutherans” should organize to better play in the politics and bureaucracy of a four-letter synod in order to thwart the designs of the church-growth groups (WELS-think Church and Change, LCMS-think JesusFirst). The lack of a blog for these “Confessional Lutherans” was lamented. Ah, yes, salvation by blog! Nevermind that there are already many excellent Confessional Lutheran blogs in cyberspace. Nevermind that if people aren’t reading what’s out there now, they are not likely to read anything new. The particular blog idea being pushed was a blog about contraception. The thought was that this would unite the “Confessional Lutherans” and next synod convention they would take the presidency and the church on earth would be salvaged.

There may be a few flaws in this thinking. There are already at least a couple blogs promoting, in theory, “Confessional Lutheran” thoughts on contraception, yet those are not uniting the “Confessionals”. Perhaps the “Confessionals” don’t all agree on contraception. Maybe this isn’t the issue they all want to rally around.

Yes, if your church is organized into a bureaucracy, you will have to work through it and not against it. Planning and uniting to a common cause is fine. However, a bureaucracy will not preserve the Church on Earth, neither will a blog or a group of like-mindeds. Christ will preserve His Bride, the Church. Contend for the truth of the Gospel where you are, pray and trust that Christ will work all things for our good, which He will, although it will almost always look and feel like the faithful are being pummeled.